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Hot in Silicon Valley: all about Uber

Uber's self-driving cars are back — sort of

The ride-hailing company has obtained the California DMV's permission to test a few of its special Ford cars in San Francisco, as the SF Examiner reported and Axios later confirmed with Uber. The cars have to be driven by humans (not self-driving systems) and be used for the purpose of training its mapping software.

Backstory: Uber was forced to pull the plug on its first round of self-driving Volvo cars after the DMV revoked the registrations of Uber's cars. The company argued it didn't need a permit because its cars didn't fit the state's definition of autonomous vehicles.

Tension within Uber over Trump

Uber CTO Thuan Pham reportedly sent an email to a few employees decrying the election of Trump, according to Business Insider. Moreover, many employees are frustrated with their employer's association with Trump's administration. With that said, some interpret Kalanick's relationship with the administration as purely in the interest of Uber and not a form of endorsement for Trump.

One current employee tells Axios that Kalanick has expressed "dissatisfaction" with Trump during multiple employee meetings and does not appear to be fan of the president at all.